Presley #2
I scrub my hands down my face. “When I got the call about Allie’s accident, I dropped out of school and moved to New Jersey to be with the kids.”
She nods, already knowing this part of the story.
I grimace. “I didn’t tell the boys what happened, or where I was going. I kind of just...left.”
She gasps. “Presley! Why?”
“What was the point? They were about to get drafted into the NHL, and it’s not like we would’ve been together after college.” I hike a shoulder and let it fall. “I had to let them go, and cold turkey was the only way for me to do it.”
I was devastated over the loss of my sister, and terrified at the thought of raising two kids on my own. I couldn’t ask the boys to stick by my side through all of that. Not when they were at the cusp of major success. They deserved to achieve their dreams.
And look at them now. I couldn’t be prouder.
Jeff gets into the car, and twists around to look at me. “I’m so sorry about Andrew.”
I wave him off. “It’s fine. It’s not your fault.”
His eyes flick between me and his wife. “Did I miss the whole conversation about what happened with those hockey players back there?”
Dominique pats him on the shoulder before tugging on her seatbelt. “I’ll fill you in later, baby.”
“Did you have fun at the game?”
I lower myself onto the edge of my niece’s bed and brush her brown hair away from her face. “I did. Did you have fun hanging with Janelle?”
Alyssa offers me a sleepy smile as she bunches up one of her many fleece blankets and rests her cheek against it. “I like babysitting.”
“You’re really good at it.”
“I think I want to be a mom someday. Or maybe I’ll just work in a school with little kids like you.”
I tuck her comforter around her. “You can be anything you want to be.”
“Did you always want to be a librarian?”
I swallow the truth and offer her something close enough to it. “I love books, so what better place to be than surrounded by them all day?”
“What book are you reading right now?”
I can’t exactly tell my ten-year-old niece that I’m reading a why-choose romance where the heroine gets railed by four dudes at the same time.
“Uh, it’s a love story.”
She grins. “You always read love stories. What’s this one about?”
“Well, it’s about a woman who falls in love with more than one man at the same time. And she has to figure out what she’s going to do about it.”
Alyssa’s eyebrows lift. “Can you love more than one person like that?”
“I think so. Love doesn’t have a limit, and it looks different for everyone.”
She hums as her eyes droop closed. “Have you ever been in love?”
My chest squeezes. “I think I was. But I was in college, so I was young.”
She peels open one eye to look at me. “Do you think you’ll ever get married?”
I let out a soft chuckle and lean down to press a kiss to the top of her head. “You always have so many questions.”
“Mom used to call me inquisitive.”
“She was right. Maybe you’ll be a reporter one day.”
Her smile fades. “I miss her.”
“I do too.” I glance at the picture frame sitting on her nightstand, tears stinging my eyes the way they always do when I think about my sister. “Make sure you always love your brother, okay? He’s going to be your best friend in life.”
“Like Mom was yours?”
I nod.
Allie wasn’t just my big sister. She was my very best friend.
The one I’d call whenever I needed help or advice.
When she died, I couldn’t call her to get me through it.
I was alone. And it was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to go through.
It’d always been us against the world growing up.
When our father left and Mom had to get a second job to make ends meet, Allie was there by my side, helping me with homework and making sure I was fed and taken care of.
Then when Mom died the summer before I left for college, Allie made sure that I still went, and helped me with some of the tuition.
She’s the reason I am where I am today, the reason I’m the person I am today, and I owe it to her to make sure her kids have the best life they possibly can.
“Goodnight, Aunt Presley. I love you.”
I press a kiss to the top of Alyssa’s head and whisper, “Love you most.”
I peek into Avery’s room after I close Alyssa’s door, but he’s already passed out, so I head to my bedroom down the hall.
I can busy myself with work and the kids during the day, but nighttime is when the loneliness creeps in. My thoughts and memories—of my sister, of McKinley and Kellerman, of the life I once had, of how I’m doing a shit job at raising these kids—take over my mind, making it hard to fall asleep.
But after coming face to face with the boys tonight, knowing I have their numbers at my fingertips, makes it that much worse.
Why would I call them? What would I even say? We’re in different phases of life now. Our college fling is long over. How would they fit into my life?
I shake my head and laugh at myself. Why would I think they’d even want to be part of my life?
While I lie on my back and stare up at the ceiling, my phone vibrates with a text on the nightstand.
Stephen McKinley: Sweet dreams, pretty girl.
Butterflies flit around my stomach.
I scoot up to sit against the headboard, staring down at the text.
What do I say? Why did he ask for my number in the first place? My heart thumps a furious rhythm in my chest.
But my mind quickly snuffs out the tune.
I set the phone back on my nightstand and try my best to fall asleep.